Fluttering Blossoms
by EternalRoses
Summary: In a world where Sakura never loved Sasuke. In a world where she is born to be Byakuya Kuchiki's wife and matriarch of the Kuchiki Clan. In a world where being a ninja is Sakura's last form of rebellion before her tragic transition into the Soul Society. From the Chunin exams to Shippuden, from Rukia's execution to Aizen. From the very beginning to the very end.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hold the rocks and pitchforks! Yeah, I know most of you were waiting for me to update Ballad of Another Life… and I will! But the thing is when I wrote it, it was at the splurge of the moment… so all the details and the rest of the plot is a work in progress, not to mention that I was distracted by other things as well… new anime and tons of stress with official school years wrapping up.**

**I'm also not completely accustomed to writing multi – chaptered stories, mainly one – shots**

**So you might be wondering why the hell I'm starting another story!**

**This story on the other hand is a bit more worked out and one I came up with way before Ballad of Another Life, but wasn't sure how people would react, so I'm giving it a shot after reading a particularly atrocious fanfic that somehow had a fair amount of reviews… the things people write…**

**Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto or Bleach.**

* * *

She stares at the sky, empty and blue. Free and vast, completely out of reach. Full of life and hope, something to look forward to… something she will never be.

And she feels her heart clench, resentment leaking in, it always does when her mind wanders, her lips twist into a bitter half smile as her hand tightens, and she lets that sour emotion resonate throughout her entire body, because she loves to feel. People don't feel as much as they should, but she revels in it. Emotion was amazing, the ability to express it even more, a luxury in the near future she wouldn't be able to afford, even to herself.

Finally, she relaxes, letting her body loosen, because she knows that her anger is misdirected, he wasn't to blame, but neither was she. In the end, she would never quite be sure who to toss the blame to, but she knew it was there, whether it be him or her.

Him.

She didn't hate him. She couldn't. She wouldn't allow herself to. It would be reckless and petty, serving no use to her in the long run.

One day, he would be her husband. One day, she would be the mother of his children. One day…

And then she feels it again, resentment, like she was being robbed and cursed. Burdened by something that had been out of her control for a long time. She was _twelve_ years old! And yet her life has already been mapped out, girls at her age hardly contemplate marriage and they hardly know who their spouses were going to be.

She is brought out of her musings by a loud voice complaining and calling out a cheater, she looks up to see her teammates arguing after a spar. Letting a smile grace her lips, she gets up from the tree she had been resting on and walks over with towels and water bottles.

Checking herself over, she makes sure that a perky look is set firmly on her face as she lets her voice rise of few notes, making it trill in what she was sure was annoyance and fangirlism.

She watches irritation meld into Sasuke's eyes as he snatches the towel, she watches Naruto give her a grin and a compliment.

And so she…

Will give Sasuke a dreamy look and praise, tossing in an offer for a date and a whack on the head to Naruto followed by a scold

And on cue…

She will be coldly rejected as she lets 'hurt' wash over her features and Naruto will loudly complain and ask her what he did to deserve the blow.

Just like clockwork.

It's a role played, one where she is an obsessed fan girl, narrow-minded and predictable. She is the horribly lacking one on the team with the 'dark and mysterious' prodigy and the hyperactive blonde with dreams and potential and the perverted but talented sensei. She is the weak link of Team 7.

And she enjoys it.

It is a script of her own design, a character she controls and twists around because she simply could. It was something no one could force upon her. It was in Sakura's hands.

Being a ninja, being this weak Sakura was a freedom of hers that she relished in. It was her last act of rebellion, it was her own decision before…

Before the time came for the Transition Ceremony.

What is it?

Well, it started with this…

* * *

A long, long time ago when the Soul Society was still new, there hadn't really been much rules. Soul Reapers could pass through their world and the world of the living without any need of permission or limitations. They were free to do what they wanted to in the world of the living, lack of limitations allowed them to be seen and felt by all. Naturally people met people, and people fell in love. The problem with falling in love was that Soul Reapers were by all technicality… dead and therefore could only remain felt by humans for so long.

So the Soul Reapers thought of an idea, as they did not want to be separated from their beloved.

They would sever the soul chains and in basic terms kill their loved ones, so they could then be together in the Soul Society, if by consent, that was another matter.

In theory, it seemed plausible. But there was a flaw…when people die they have no memory of their past life, therefore they wouldn't be able to remember anything, not ever their lovers.

Anguished, Soul Reapers feverishly searched for a solution and came up with this.

In a ceremony, now known as the Transition Ceremony, the human lover before committing suicide, but most traditionally and preferred their lover killing them, they are surrounded and continuously infused with reiatsu even at the moment of death and as their soul chain is being severed they are hit with even more reiatsu and a multitude of kido spells all resulting in the person dying and safely being moved into death with all their memories intact.

It is a long and large ritual that takes a tremendous amount of power and dedication and as time went by, it all boiled down to that not many were able to do it resulting in chaos and death - the human's painful demise due to dying and the inability to handle all that burning reiatsu, the occasional Soul Reaper, and the observers and kido users.

Eventually, the ceremony was generally banned, it was then converted to a privilege only allowed to high standing nobles, mainly the Four Noble Houses and the occasional low ranked aristocrat.

* * *

A few centuries later, here stands Sakura Haruno, who at birth was designated to be Byakuya Kuchiki's wife, mother to an eventual heir and overall matriarch of the Kuchiki Clan. Lovely…

And at the appropriate age, chosen by Byakuya, fifteen or sixteen minimum, eighteen the max, she would have to go through that same ritual.

She was going to die, and she was certain early, the Kuchiki Elders wanted an heir as soon as possible. She had heard that Byakuya's first wife was a sickly woman of low status that failed to provide an heir and that they have constantly haggled Byakuya for it, since for about fifty years he has vigorously refused to be wed again. So imagine their joy when he finally agreed to be married, even if it was to a pink haired girl of the world of the living.

She isn't sure why he chose her of all people, but her parents while they had been alive had been ecstatic.

Fingering the necklace around her neck, something that felt more like a collar, she traced the pendant, which was basically a beautifully embellished symbol of the Kuchiki Clan. After swinging it among the white gold chain it was on, she arrived home.

And awaiting her was Katsumi.

Damn.

"Where have you been?"

Katsumi was in short, her guardian/ babysitter who watched over Sakura and guided her in every step into becoming a noble's wife.

She also had been through the ceremony, she was a former nobleman's wife from a century of two ago until her husband was killed in battle, he had been the head of one of the Four Noble Houses until it had fallen.

The Four Noble House of the Sereitei are just that, but many noble houses crumble from the lack of leadership or an heir, often letting other families into power, the Kuchiki House and the Shihoin House have been especially powerful and longstanding clans while the other two houses often rotated or changed.

Katsumi was here to be her mentor and to make sure Sakura didn't do anything stupid like getting herself killed or even worse getting involved with another man.

"I asked you where you were."

Blinking, she answered, "Out, with my team."

"Did you go on any missions?"

"No, unfortunately…"

"No sarcasm young lady. You should be grateful Byakuya – sama has even allowed you to play this little ninja game."

"It's not a game."

"Of course it isn't…"

Katsumi has no respect for ninjas or even humans for that matter, despite herself once being a human a while back, but Katsumi simply believes that everything is better in the Soul Society.

"No matter, look what Byakuya – sama has sent you, a gift!"

Her gaze fell upon a small but elaborate wrapped box, as she unwrapped it, it turned out to be a silver bracelet, adorned with lovely jade jewels that were the color of her eyes and with charms in the shape of sakura petals. It was beautiful, then she notice the writing inside, engraved was _Sakura Haruno Kuchiki – Cherry Blossom of the Kuchiki's._

Her intrigue for the gift instantly dissipated, it was another brand, a claim of her in the form of beauty.

Damn them.

As Katsumi gushed over the thing, Sakura contemplated, according to Katsumi the more grand and elaborate a gift was, the closer you were to the ceremony. The bracelet was lovely and intricate, but it wasn't heart stopping. She had heard of previous gifts from Katsumi's experience: entire squads, thrones, personal mini castles, a thousand jeweled hair pins…

This was only a bracelet… she could assume it'd be awhile until the final gift… the final step…

With a sigh she was rushed to her bath. While Katsumi was brushing her long pink tresses she stared into the mirror. Blank, only to be snapped out her thought's by Katsumi's voice, "Lady Sakura, tomorrow morning be sure to write a note of gratitude to Byakuya – sama."

Lady Sakura, she hated being called that, she wasn't even married, but Katsumi insisted claiming it was the best way to grow used to it.

"Why should I write it? It probably was one of his advisors that did it anyway."

"He signed the note addressing it to you."

"Probably in the midst of doing his paper work."

"In any case milady, you will wear it at the next meeting as a sign of acceptance.

Sakura scoffed, every couple of months or so, when time allowed it she and Byakuya would meet, in an effort to 'get to know each other better'.

Bullshit.

With a goodnight from Katsumi, her lights were off, walking to her window sill Sakura gazed at midnight sky, empty and blue. Free and vast, completely out of reach. Full of life and hope, something to look forward to… something she will never be.

Absolutely free, unlike she…

* * *

**A/N: Boom! First chapter complete! And unlike Ballad of Another life I made the chapter longer and fleshed it out a bit more so people will have a better grasp on it. **

**So tell me what did you think of it… the plot, my characterization of Sakura so far, and what you think will happen. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in either a review or PM. (Maybe a review and a PM… yeah…)**

**Don't worry the story will be unraveled and the characters will grow especially Sakura since I do plan on writing when she's in Shippuden and the Bleach Universe is going through the whole Aizen chaos…**

**Please, please review!**** Feed my drive and imagination, you have no idea how happy it makes an author feel when they get one in their email!**

**=D**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Whoo! Second Chapter! I'm happy that so many responded well and that nobody gave me trouble for the idea! **

**As for the story, I was contemplating the pace of it, should I go slowly and document all her Team 7 moments or pick up the pace and cover only what is really necessary … still thinking about it, but if you have any suggestions, do tell.**

**I would like to thank all those who actually reviewed, that meant so much, thanks for taking a small portion of your time to leave a review, because as nice as favorites and follows are… well leaving a review is a lot more motivation…**

**Anyways… back to the story and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto or Bleach**

* * *

_The pitter-patter of small feet echoed through the air, as a small pinkette, no more than six was lead down a hall. It was all so calm, so silent and yet the tiny girl felt that all the serenity here was a farce and that in a few moments it would all be cleverly concealed chaos._

_Her life was about to change._

_She was scared, even with her parents here, this strange place, wherever it may be, was definitely not Konoha. The people here were different, she didn't see a single ninja, and everyone wore strange black robes and everybody had a sword somewhere on their body. Being escorted pass all those people, she and her parents were lead to a large house, a very large house._

_Was she really the only one concerned? Because as far as she could tell her parents were oddly… happy?_

_The close they got to the door, the more her heart raced… why was she scared? She didn't want to be, she wanted to be brave like her parents whenever they were sent on missions to fight bad guys. She had to be brave. Maybe, this was like her own mission._

_They walked through the door, and into a huge room filled with people… lots of people._

_On the far side of the room there were figures, dressed in elegant robes, with wrinkled faces covered by silk fans, she would later learn these were the Kuchiki Elders. They were all huddled together talking animatedly, but as soon as they notice her and her parent's presence, they were instantaneously hushed, lowering to whispers, until they were reduced to silence, only then did one of them speak, "We welcome you Mr. and Mrs. Haruno, we are glad that you accepted our invitation and our proposal."_

_With a bow of her parents' head, they replied, "And we thank you, we are most honored by your to be here and for the proposal itself, we have no words to express our gratitude."_

"_Very well, is that her?"_

_Lifting their heads, "Yes, this is our daughter Sakura."_

_Hearing her name the small child, politely bowed her head, raising it only after she heard, "Ah, yes she will be absolutely lovely when she is older, I suppose Byakuya did not make an ill choice after all, despite her stand as a human, no matter, she shall be molded into the ideal matriarch of this clan, we have waited so long for one, you cannot imagine our joy when he suggested it and the grander joy that you accepted. Of course we will have some conditions set up when it comes to her coming of age…In any case we should let her get acquainted with soon to be."_

_Now she was really confused, yet all the confusion cleared away when she finally noticed a man who had apparently been in the room the entire time._

_He was tall and pale, wearing the same black robes like the people before but unlike them he had a white haori with the number six on it, but like the rest he too had a sword resting on his hip. His hair was dark and neat held together and back by a white hairpiece. Eyes were a grayish lavender and without emotion. Noticing her gawking at him, the man bent down until he was eye level with her, and she could have sworn that for a moment, looking into each other's eyes she saw warmth and recognition in his, something akin to love… and then it was gone, replaced with that blank gaze once again. _

_Her parents eagerly knelt by her, "Sakura, we would like you to meet Byakuya Kuchiki, he is a good man that will one day be your husband."_

_In that one moment, any dreams, any hopes, any control of her own life she had... were shattered. She was now by some twisted string of fate bounded to this man in this strange place and it was a thread, she knew that could never be severed._

_She still may have only been a child, but she knew, she knew deep down within her core that it was all over._

_Bowing her head once more, she gave a shaky hello to her husband to be._

* * *

Staring out the window, Sakura shook head, she hated remembering that moment but it was something that would forever be ingrained in her mind. She had been six at the time and now she was twelve, she had gone through many things in those years, at the age of eight her parents had died, they had been killed in action while on a mission. And she missed them, they were her parents, how could she not love them, yet her memories of them were hazed and blurred. At the same time she also couldn't help the feeling of betrayal color their memories as well, it would always seep in, but she would pull it back. They always did what was best for her, even after their death their will had stated that the engagement would go on, even if at this point their consent didn't really matter anymore.

Katsumi had been assigned to her after the first meeting with the clan and after the death of her parents she officially became her guardian. And Sakura didn't mind, Katsumi was good person even if she was strict and acted stuffy and old despite her youthful appearance.

Katsumi was beautiful. She had to be, if she had been chosen and married to a noble, she had to be, especially if she was a human. She wasn't particularly tall but her mere presence always made you feel a bit smaller, she had golden eyes, like a setting sun and pale skin, plump lips always colored with a shade of red and dark brown hair pin up and held by a silk flower. Sakura always like to think of her as a geisha, in appearance and attitude, she always held herself in great respect and she always glided in elegance, she never walked, she glided. She always made even the simplest of kimonos look spectacular.

That is exactly what Sakura would be in a few years, posh and courteous, or at least what Katsumi hope she would be. Despite that, in all of Katsumi's grace, Sakura couldn't help but wonder what she had been like as a human, because she doubted Katsumi had been like this as a human.

Speaking of the ever so loyal Katsumi here she came.

Exchanging greetings, she decided it was best that she just came out and said it, there really wasn't any way to sugar coat it.

"Katsumi, I'm going on a mission with my team to the Land of Waves."

Sakura could have sworn that Katsumi's eyes popped out.

"I hope you are aware of the conditions Lady Sakura that are made when you leave the village."

"I am, so stop fretting."

"Good because, I'll be contacting her, your safety is the first priority than whatever mission you have."

"I know tha- wait the land of waves isn't that far!"

"Yes! You know that you can't leave the village without protection!"

"But won't it be obvious that I have someone tailing me!"

"To you maybe, but not to those humans."

"Those humans are my teammates."

"No matter! Conform!"

"…"

"Don't look at me like that… it's for the best and you know that. You won't even notice Suì-Fēng."

Ahhh… Suì-Fēng. Captain of Squad Two of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, and the fastest in in Sereitei… or so they say. And Sakura's occasional trainer in the art of hand to hand combat.

Basically if Sakura was to ever leave the village, she would be assigned a body guard. It was usually Suì-Fēng due to her being absolutely lethal and completely silent about it, unlike other soul reapers with swords as their shikai, all Suì-Fēng had to do was touch her target twice and done. She was also fast enough that if anything did happen to Sakura, she would be taken to the Soul Society quickly.

Being part of the Fēng Family, a family that avidly serve the Four Noble Houses, although it was no secret that they preferred the Shihoin Clan more than any other, Suì-Fēng was essentially the best of the best.

In some warped way she pitied Suì-Fēng, a woman who was strong and promising but who was unfortunately ensnared by the beautifully cruel hand of the nobles, life already decided for her…even if Suì-Fēng was semi – obsessed with the former head of the Shihoin clan and in some way seem to enjoyed serving nobles. It had all been mapped out from the day she had been born, loyalty pledged for eternity.

Although, she would never dare say that to the woman's face.

* * *

She sighed as she followed her team, her excitement of finally leaving the village was horribly dulled by Suì-Fēng's presence, not that she didn't like her, she just hated the feeling of being babysat, as though Kakashi didn't do so enough, even more so, this was even more proof that the Kuchiki Clan controlled every aspect of her life.

She could feel Suì-Fēng's reiatsu nearby and sighed, she had learned to recognize reiatsu, even though it took awhile to actually identify who it was, but it really wasn't all that hard, humans could probably do it if they were aware of it, it was just a matter of tuning into it, since when she thought of it, reiatsu and chakra weren't all that different, it was just species wise.

Chakra was something everyone has, even if it's a small amount, while it is the same with reiatsu, reiatsu was all around you. But each energy was associated with their own world; chakra in the world of the living and reiatsu in the Sereitei.

But, then again this was all just a theory Sakura had come up with so…

She looked up to see Naruto and Sasuke bickering again. And she smiled.

They always managed to find a way to lighten her mood. There was just something so real about them, genuine. And she loved that.

Initially, she had found Sasuke to be obnoxious as hell. Yes, she was very aware of what had happened to his family, she had even met his older brother a few times and she found him to be nice… she often wondered what made him snap… anyways she was aware of his less than ideal situation, but that didn't mean he had to dedicate his life to revenge, he had a choice and he was condemning himself to a life where he would enslave himself to his dark cause. Upon, first meeting him, she was well prepared to ignore him, but Katsumi advised that she had to fit in with the village if she wanted to live in it because it was either live their or in the Sereitei, Sakura chose the former. It would have been painting a target upon herself, like her hair didn't enough, if she disliked the one boy every girl her age was supposedly in love with, in the end she found it quite amusing and liberating to play a mindless fan girl.

But there was another social norm in the village; shunning a certain boy named Naruto.

If there was one part of her act that Sakura didn't entirely like, it was abusing Naruto. If anything, all she wanted to do was hug him, he was actually very sweet, even if he was dense. But once again if would have been painfully obvious if she was the only kind one to the person everyone hated for a reason she'll never quite understand. So she always feels bad when she scolds him, but she hopes that if time would allow, that one day she would be able to show who she really is to him and be his friend, adding to her hopeless dream of seeing him become hokage, she really believes he can, but she doubts she'll be alive for the occasion.

She often wonders if things weren't the way they were, would she have been attracted to someone like him or to someone like Sasuke, maybe in general, had her life been her own who would she have truly fallen in love with?

She can never help but scoff when Katsumi attempts to 'reassure' that she will come to love Byakuya in time.

Sakura is honestly not sure.

She yells at Naruto for being so loud, even though he expressiveness is so refreshing.

She flirts with Sasuke for being so 'cool', even though in reality he looks constipated.

She waits for the act to unfold.

* * *

**A/N: So I'm going to end things there. I hope I fleshed a few more things out, but overall I'm building up to the good stuff, like the Chunin Exams where things will get really intense ad maybe dark! But I was just wondering, what you guys think is best referring to my AN at the beginning, should I skip the Wave Arc and just refer to it and work up to exams or should I go over the Wave Arc in detail, please give me your preference and why.**

**I also am planning on introducing some more Bleach characters like Toshiro, Rukia, Aizen, Rangiku, and many more, I'm planning on giving Sakura a unique relationship with each of them and a lot of characters as well.**

**Also, someone PM'd on whether Sakura will develop any feeling for Sasuke. No, she won't, this is a ByaSaku fanfic, but that doesn't mean that Sakura won't develop feeling for anyone else, because realistically emotions can't be avoided, but she won't cheat on Byakuya, that's pretty much impossible, plus who wouldn't want to see a jealous Byakuya… so tell me who should Sakura's heart wander to and why? But don't worry ByaSaku fans she and Byakuya are meant to be.**

**Okay, so any questions or suggestions feel free to ask!**

**PLEASE REVIEW! For the sake of updating faster, REVIEWS make me happy! Please (God, I'm so desperate…)**

**=D**


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